NB lures doctors with free rent and support staff

FREDERICTON – To improve the delivery of primary care in the midst of a doctor’s shortage, the newly elected premier of New Brunswick, Susan Holt, has pledged to open 10 community clinics within the first 18 months of her mandate. Instead of using the traditional fee-for-service model, the clinics will pay physicians a salary. They will also employ allied health professionals in a model called ‘collaborative care’, giving patients a one-stop healthcare experience.

“We’re on a very aggressive time schedule,” Health minister John Dornan said. “Some areas are very close to that. They’re just on the edge of getting support from us to open them up as collaborative care clinics. We’re quite optimistic we’re going to deliver on this.”

To lure doctors to the province, New Brunswick is also going to cover the rent and pay the salaries of non-clinical staff. These are costs that physicians normally bear themselves, operating as small businesses.

Already, the promise of a new model has brought one doctor back. Dr. Stuart Lockhart (pictured) says new doctors don’t want the burdens that come with running a small business. That was top of mind when he helped design the Carleton North Medical Clinic in Florenceville-Bristol and agreed to come home to New Brunswick after working in Saskatchewan.

The 4,000-square-foot space has eight exam rooms and an artificial intelligence scribe system to capture oral examination notes, which are then stored electronically and can be accessed by any health professional who is seeing the patient on a given visit.

Ideally, Lockhart told CBC News, the clinic team would consist of doctors, nurses, a diabetes educator, a medical office assistant and visiting specialists.

“We would have four physicians or nurse practitioners here at all times. We would have nurses, we would have allied health rotating in and out for patients to access as their first point of contact. We would have evening classes and we would have a weekend service.”

He said the clinic is designed to increase access to timely appointments by sharing patient loads, while also improving working conditions for staff, which in turn, would hopefully boost recruitment and retention.

“This is a very new thing for New Brunswick still,” said Dr. Lockhart, who is receiving support from people and businesses nearby.

For example, the clinic was built with financial support from local service groups and the McCain Foundation, the philanthropic arm of French-fry giant McCain Foods. The municipal government, the District of Carleton North, pays the annual $85,000 rent.

Lockhart is one of only two family physicians in a catchment area of some 10,000 people, following the retirement of his father, Dr. Bruce Lockhart, and his uncle Dr. Colin Lockhart. The family has produced four generations of local doctors dating back to 1908.

Lockhart said a new doctor is coming soon, and the clinic will be working to take on patients from the provincial waiting list.

It’s an important development, but the overall picture is still disconcerting. In the sprawling Upper River Valley health zone, Horizon recently reported 35 physician vacancies plus 14 doctor vacancies in the local hospital.

In addition to the clinic in Carleton North, the Fredericton North clinic at Brookside Mall is also high on the list of collaborative clinics in the works, as are sites in Moncton, Saint John, Edmundston, Campbellton, the Acadian Peninsula, St. Stephen, Sussex and Sackville.